PATHOGENICITY AND LOSS ASSESSMENT OF PHYTOPHTHORA CAPSICI LEONIAN ISOLATES IN PEPPER CROP UNDER SCREENHOUSE CONDITIONS

This study was conducted to determine the pathogenicity and yield losses of 16 Phytophthora capsici isolates from pepper under screen house conditions. Pepper plants (cv. California Wonder) were grown in earthen pots of 20cm diameter and seedlings were inoculated by adding zoospore suspension (5 x 10^4 zoospores ml^-1 of water) of P. capsici. P. capsici was reisolated from all of the inoculated plants by plating infected plant tissues onto a Phytophthora selective medium. The disease also severely affected plant height, root weight, fresh shoot weight, dry shoot weight and yield.